


Fly Away Home

by Tabithian



Series: Ladybug [2]
Category: Batman (Comics), DCU, DCU - Comicverse, Nightwing (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-06
Updated: 2013-03-06
Packaged: 2017-12-04 10:58:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/710008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tabithian/pseuds/Tabithian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tim knows it's going to be a problem when he opens the door and Jason's on the other side.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fly Away Home

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt from thesensibleone13.

Tim knows it's going to be a problem when he opens the door and Jason's on the other side. 

“So, hey,” Jason says, like he doesn't look like a refugee in a disaster movie. “That offer still open?”

Tim thinks about asking Jason what happened, but there's a pinched look on his face that tells Tim that no, he really doesn't want the answer.

“Of course,” he says, and steps back to let Jason inside.

Jason, though. Jason eyes him. “You're sure?”

Like Tim's going to take back his offer. Like Tim didn't mean it when he said Jason was always welcome. (True, Jason had been concussed at the time and Tim was worried he'd wander off on his own if Tim didn't keep an eye on him, but)

“I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it,” he says.

Jason gives him a look at that, like maybe Tim's a special kind of idiot. (He kind of is, really.)

“I'll be out of your hair in a few days,” he says.

********

Tim doesn't ask, but he hears things and he's something of a detective. (Something to do with Jason being an idiot and people with access to explosives and Jason's _never_ getting his security deposit back.)

He can tell the moment Jason knows he knows, but he doesn't seem to care. A little preoccupied fending off Ladybug.

“The hell is wrong with your cat, baby bird?”

Ladybug has a habit of seeking out warm places. 

“Dick spoils her,” Tim says, as if he doesn't. “She likes to cuddle.”

Maybe it's not strictly cuddling, in the normal sense of the word. She's small and fast and tricky and loves to climb inside coats and hoodies while they're being worn, curled up close.

“Figures,” Jason says, looking down at her. “Stupid cat.”

Ladybug meows, annoyed.

“She's sensitive,” Tim says, even though she really isn't. She's just demanding. 

“Sensitive my ass,” Jason says.

Tim can't help but notice that Jason doesn't try to remove her from her new favorite spot, or that he finds ways to work around her. 

********

Jason's 'a few days' turns into a week, turns into two. 

Somewhere along the line they start going out on patrol together.

Jason grumbles that Tim's making a mistake letting _this_ thug get away after he gives them the information they were after. That it's going to bite him in the ass when he hands _that_ goon over to the cops instead of letting Jason deal with him, but he still he plays by the rules Bruce set out for them.

“Where the hell is Dickie, anyway?” Jason finally asks.

Tim looks up from his laptop. Ladybug's helping him. Watching the screen intently as Tim works. Batting at the screen and his hands as he types.

“Africa,” Tim says. “Helping Batwing.”

Jason looks like he wants to say something about that, but - 

“Dick says they're 'bros',” Tim says, using finger quotes and enjoying the look of mingled horror and disgust on Jason's face a little too much. “He'll be back soon.”

“Jesus Christ, baby bird,” Jason says. “The hell?”

And really? 

“It's Dick.”

Jason nods like yes, it is, and he's so very sorry Tim's the unfortunate bastard who has to live with him and his many kinds of crazy.

********

In hindsight, it might have been a good idea for Tim to tell Dick Jason was staying with them for a little bit.

********

“This is kind of amazing, though,” Dick says. “I mean, really.”

“The bathroom is on fire,” Tim says, because it is.

There's a trail of broken furniture and shattered glass going from the living room down the hall to the bathroom. Because Dick and Jason and the kind of training that lets them make anything into a weapon if they just try hard enough. (It's a miracle the whole apartment's not on fire.)

“Just a little,” Jason says, holding his hand up with fingers apart to demonstrate how small an amount that is.

“No,” Tim says. “You don't get to do that while _the bathroom is on fire_.”

Curled up in his arms, Ladybug meows for emphasis. 

Jason sighs like maybe Tim's being unreasonable. (He really isn't.)

It is a small fire that's contained for now. Nothing that's going to set the apartment ablaze, but still. Fire where there shouldn't be.

Dick looks like he wants to say something, and then thinks better of it when Ladybug turns her head to look at him.

“Well, if Dickie here wasn't an idiot - “

“Hey!”

Tim really wants to know why Dick just didn't come in the front door, but. It's Dick. No one really knows what goes through his head half the time.

“Next time,” Tim says, because with his luck there _will_ be a next time. “Maybe don't use stun grenades?”

It says something that Jason had gone into protective mode when Dick snuck in through the window, but explosives may have been a bit overkill. 

Jason looks like he's going to protest, so Tim amends that to, “Okay, maybe just don't go for them first.”

Dick and Jason exchange looks, and Tim.

“Why don't you two talk it over,” Tim says, because _his life_. “I'll just go put the fire out. Don't mind me.”

********

“I was trying to surprise you,” Dick says, sitting on the side of the bed.

Tim lifts his head to look at him. 

Dick looks tired, and guilty, and a little worried. 

“Dick - “

“It was dark,” he says, scooting closer to Tim. “I couldn't see his face.”

Tim's eyebrows go up at that. (Just a little.)

“In retrospect,” Dick says. “Throwing the lamp at him may not have been a good idea.”

No. No it wasn't.

“I'd imagine not,” Tim says. 

Dick runs a hand through his hair, nervous, maybe. Worried?

“I can't believe you sometimes,” Tim says, but he's smiling because this is Dick, and apparently he likes to throw lamps at home intruders. 

“Um,” Dick says, looking at him hopefully.

Tim twitches the blankets aside and Dick flashes him a grin as he goes for Tim, rolling them so they're tangled in the blankets and sheet, face close to his.

“Hey,” he says, like Tim hadn't noticed. “I'm home.”

Tim sighs, because _Dick_.

Dick is kind of an idiot sometimes, but he's _Tim's_ idiot and that means something. (Jason would probably say that it means Tim makes terrible life decisions.)

“Welcome home, Dick.”

********

Tim doesn't know what Dick and Jason said, but Bruce is the one to foot the bill for repairs to the bathroom. (After taking a moment to think things over, Bruce decides to pay to have the entire apartment redone.)

“Oh, nice,” Jason says, the day he leaves for his new apartment. “I like the new look.”

The new look is exactly like the old look, only now it's more fireproof and unbreakable than before.

“Thanks,” Tim says, smiling a little. “I could give you my decorator's number if you wanted?”

For all that Tim had complained about Dick and Jason setting the bathroom on fire, he's not really angry about it. Annoyed, yes, because who does that? (Dick and Jason, apparently.)

“No, I'm fine,” Jason says.

“Probably for the best,” Tim agrees. 

********

Jason drops by more often after that – which actually means he drops by at all. 

He says it's to visit Ladybug who seems to have made an impression on him, but really.

Jason stops by to pick fights with Dick over tactics and strategy and which one of the women on _The Real Housewives of Gotham_ is most likely to try to win Brucie's favor at the next Wayne gala.

“What? Are you crazy? No way!” Jason yells, and tackles Dick.

They go down in a tangle of limbs, Dick trying to reach long-remembered ticklish spots while Jason goes for his kidneys. (But gently, because the aim isn't to hurt, just. Tim doesn't really know what, actually, only that it's not something to worry about.)

Tim looks down at Ladybug, snug inside his hoodie. She pats his face with a paw and meows quietly, like _yes_ , for better or worse, this is their life now.

“I know,” Tim says, and quietly puts his vote down for the brunette with the sharp smile and high-heeled boots, because _Bruce_.


End file.
